Pouring a material stored within an inner bag, which is placed within a container, and controlling the flow of the material often presents challenges. In particular, a user must go through at least two layers to get to the stored material: opening the container, then opening the inner bag. The process can be even more laborious if a user rolls, folds, and/or clips the inner bag inside the container when pouring is completed to preserve the material within the inner bag. In addition, once open, the inner bag requires careful handling to control the flow of material being poured. Furthermore, it is highly likely that, initially, a user tears/opens the sealed inner bag inappropriately, or at least not optimally. Such scenario makes it increasingly difficult to control the flow of material from the inner bag. As an example, pouring a material (e.g., cereal) from an inner bag (e.g., flexible plastic bag) placed within a container (e.g., a carton) can be an inconvenient process and can also lead to material spills and waste, which require clean-up of the surrounding area.
To address these inconveniences, to improve user experience, and to control material flow, a number of pouring systems (e.g., pourers, pouring solutions, spouts, lips, conduits, etc.) have been proposed. These known pouring systems are typically part of or attach to an inner bag. A common problem with these known pouring systems is that they are not mounted or mountable to the container, thereby making them unready for use. To pour material, a user must first open the container to get to the inner bag. Moreover, careful handling of the inner bag may still be required with these known pouring systems in order to control the flow of material being poured.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a pouring device for pouring material from an inner bag placed within a container and method of using same that are able to overcome the above disadvantages.
Advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the detailed description of the invention hereinbelow.